Notes and Quotes from the U.S. Open:
Hicks not one, just a mystery man – U.S. Open Championship
SAN DIEGO - The U.S. Open is forever coming up with a great parade of Who-He's, and in this case, one of the early ones was Justin Hicks.“Who am I?” Hicks said, after posting a 3-under 68 in the opening round of the U.S. Open. “Well, I'm just one of the guys out there playing the Nationwide Tour, trying to earn his PGA Tour card. There's a lot of great young players in America, and we're all out there trying to earn our way up to playing on this big level in front of the camera and all the media and everything else.”
By way of identification: He's 33, out of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., and playing in his second U.S. Open. He missed the cut in 2004. And he's missed the cut three times in six events on the Nationwide Tour.
ROCCO-ING ON - Not so for Rocco Mediate, 45, the seasoned tour pro from Naples, Fla., via Arnie Palmer country in Western Pennsylvania. The guy who owned possibly the worst back on the tour, what with all that surgery. Media, in his 13th Open, shot 69, pronounced himself “ecstatic,” and said he wasn't at all concerned about the attention falling all around him, given the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson pairing.
“I kind of live under the radar,” Mediate said. “So I'm used to that. I think it's great.” As to predictions: “It's hard to have expectations on a golf course like this. On a U.S. Open setup, you got to go out and see what you have. Anywhere around par for three or four days is going to be fine.”
THANKSGIVING - England's Lee Westwood (70), on the Woods-Mickelson pairing: “It was great. I want to thank the USGA for putting them together, because it was a lovely, peaceful day out there. It was like wandering around on a Sunday morning. It was fabulous.”
ROTTEN POT LUCK - “I'm reasonable satisfied,” said England's Oliver Wilson (72), “but dropping three in the last four holes was not very good, I got a little unlucky on a couple of those holes. The last time I played in the U.S. Open (80-76 in 2006), I didn't give myself much of a chance after about five holes of the first round. So this time it was nice to get off to a solid start.”
THINGS LOOKING UP - Sweden's Karlsson, who missed the cut three times in his previous four U.S. Opens, figures things are looking up at last, even though he got a piece of the lead at 4 under before bogeying three times over his last seven holes for a 70. “In Bethpage (2002), I was actually doing pretty well,” he said. “I just had a bad back nine on the final day, otherwise I would have been in the top 20 at worst. Which showed me that I can do it. Hopefully, I can use that experience this week.”
KA-CHINNNG! - To call the U.S. Open the cash cow of the U.S. Golf Association is an understatement. The USGA will harvest about $50 million in profit from the event, says Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. That's from a total take of $100 million from ticket sales, corporate hospitality tents, merchandise and food and beverage. The Open money funds the USGA's other national championships, and of course the organization itself.
THE WD - Tour veteran Brett Wetterich withdrew before his afternoon tee time because of a wrist injury. He was replaced by alternate Andrew Svoboda, 28, a club pro out of Purchase, N.Y.
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